30 Kisses
by Hagumi
Summary: Since I'm writing for the Takemoto Yuuta x Hanamoto Hagumi pairing for the 30 Kisses community in livejournal, I've decided to also post my submissions here. Read at your own risk. Constructive criticisms are always welcome.
1. kiss

"Are we there yet?" Morita-senpai asks, for the hundredth time during the three hours we've been in the car. In the driver's seat, I can see professor Hanamoto's vein pop.

"Morita-senpai, you have to be patient. After all, Hanamoto-sensei is doing us all a great favor by driving us all the way to the countryside." In front of me, Yamada-senpai lightly admonishes the chin-length black-haired man sitting next to her, while he complains loudly about how he is sick of waiting and he wants to see Hagu-chan _now_.

Meanwhile, in the last row of seats, I turn slightly and see that Mayama-senpai is sleeping through all this commotion –I don't know how he can, but with all the work he has to do daily, I don't blame him.

I turn to the window to hide a smile and can't help but think, we haven't changed much since those days as art students at the University. Even though Morita-senpai has stopped disappearing to his mysterious "jobs" and has finally settled down in Tokyo and Yamada-senpai has been hired by one of Japan's most renowned pottery and interior decorations firm, and Mayama-senpai has been promoted (once again) to a higher position in Fujiwara Designs, they are the same people whom I knew through my five years at school.

My breath quickens and my heart beats a little faster as the scenery outside becomes more and more rustic. It's been two months since I've last seen Hagu…we mean to see each other more often but unsurprisingly, the countryside does not hinder the continuously growing flow of requests for an interview, or an art show, or an artwork from the blonde. Hagu's changed a lot over the last three years –she's not so afraid of presenting at art shows or sitting down for interviews, although she confesses that she still becomes very nervous whenever she has to give one. Through Hanamoto-sensei's friend sponsoring her to display her work in galleries throughout Japan, she has become something of a hit. In fact, if she wanted to, she could move to Tokyo and have enough to support herself, but she tells me that she works better in the country than she does in a fancy art studio.

The van turns onto the familiar dirt road, leading to a small cottage. It's the perfect size for two people –she is living with her mother, who has decided to come out to the countryside to get some fresh air as she recuperates from a heart surgery she had a year ago. There are colorful flowers planted next to the path leading to the front porch and as I get out, I see the white curtains fluttering as the wind blows gently through the open windows.

From around the corner, I hear running and see the petite form of a certain blond-haired. She is wearing her cream-colored smock over a blue dress and is barefoot. From the dab of green paint on her cheek, she's probably been working outside again. She goes first to sensei, and hugs him tight and laughs as he says something to her. Then she turns to Morita-senpai and Mayama-senpai, the latter trying to save the poor girl from the former's vice-like hug. We all laugh and it's like the old days again. She is finally saved, only to be attacked again, though with much more gentleness, by Yamada-senpai. They start talking as soon as they break apart, speaking with speed matching a kilometer-per-second as only girls can.

"Takemoto, you mustn't be left out in our happy rendezvous." Morita-san pops out behind me from nowhere with his familiar glint – that look that we have all learned the hard way to ignore and escape as soon as possible. But I'm not quick enough this day.

"GIVE HAGU-CHAN A HELLO KISS!" And I swear, I flew ten feet up in the air before landing between Yamada-senpai and poor Hagu-chan, amidst lots of shrieking and yells.

I'm half afraid I gave the violet-eyed girl a heart attack but then, she breaks out into a wide grin and gives me a hug. I hope no one is looking at me –I can feel the hot blood rising up to my face.

_Flash_.

With a gleeful cry of triumph, the black-haired man runs away from us. Where was he hiding that? No doubt he'll use that picture as blackmail one day…

"I'm glad to see you, Takemoto-kun." Hagu says, our faces inches apart. She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and ducks away, her face resembling mine now.

…But that's okay.


	2. news, letter

It was a late evening, one of those days when he overworked himself too much. Mechanically walking home from the subway station, he thought that in fact, he had been quite a workaholic this whole week. It was because of the project, he told himself. It was because there were always too many things to be designed, or renovated, or supervised over. It was because the senpais in his department had a habit of pushing the work toward their younger (and fewer in number) coworkers. It was because they were, more often than not, given unreasonable deadlines.

It was not, he said firmly to himself, because Hagu-chan was in America for another two weeks and had called Hanamoto-sensei yesterday to talk about staying even longer for another art show. It was not because a certain someone was one of the four other graduate students who had gone with Hagu-chan for the overseas art show tour. It was not because he was worried that somehow, she would be a different person when she came back god-knew-when now, he thought to himself as he entered the run-down dorm house he had resided in since his freshman year at the University – why did he still live here? He could certainly afford better places – and hit his head on the low ceiling before he entered his room.

As he turned on the light, he saw a neat stack of assorted envelopes on the low table in the center of the room. Mayama-senpai had picked up his mail as usual, because he always seemed to forget to look in the box before he entered. Muffling a yawn, he shuffled through the small pile. There were two bills, a letter from Kazu-san – most likely roaring at him to come home and visit soon (that is, if a letter could roar) –, an ad, and…a letter from Los Angeles, California.

He wondered why his heart was pounding and why his fingers fumbled as he carefully ripped the cream-colored envelope with American stamps.

_Dear Takemoto-kun,_ it read.

_I hope you're well over there in Japan. I talked to Ayu-chan not too long ago and she said all you do is work, work, work. I know working is important, but I hope you're also getting enough sleep and eating properly._

A small smile graced his lips as he couldn't help but think that she sounded more like his mother whenever she told him to take care of himself.

It took me a while to get used to the time difference. It's been my first time being overseas and everything was new and strange at first. I was a little sick because of this, but the fever wasn't too bad and I'm well now, so don't worry.

He remembered Hanamoto-sensei talking to a girl who was traveling in Hagu-chan's group and he remembered hearing that Hagu-chan still became feverish at night. Still, his former teacher wasn't too worried. If she had survived until now without flying back home, he had said, he had trust in her to stay a little longer. He knew he should do the same and know enough by now that Hagu-chan was a stronger person than she had been in her freshman year, but couldn't help but get worried anyway.

_Even though we're busy with our art shows most of the time, we have some free time to tour the city. I know they're very far apart, but sometimes I can't help but see traces of Tokyo in Los Angeles. Is that strange? I've taken lots of pictures. I'll show them to you when I go back to Japan. _

_The people we're staying with are very nice. They know Japanese so it's not a problem to communicate with them. They've taught us some English. It's fun to learn a new language, although I'm not too good at it. _

_It's fun to be here, but I can't wait until I can go back to Japan. Let's all have a party when we come back, okay? I miss you. _

_Hagu_

Nearly a month later, when he's standing at the airport with Hanmoto-sensei and Ayu-senpai and Mayama-senpai, his heart leaps as he catches sight of familiar golden hair, and nearly stops when she hugs him and gives him a chaste kiss on the cheek that her uncle doesn't see.


	3. Chasing shadows

Disclaimer: Honey and Clover is not mine.

* * *

He's about to enter the room, hot tea with just the right amount of honey and lemon mixed in held in hand, when he stops.

Her face is made paler by the moonlight that enters through the window. She is motionless, save for the fine trickle of tears and the slightest shaking of her hands. A small cardboard box laid on the table, open with its contents – a card and something else that he can't discern from where he is – in front of her. But even before he looks at the box for the sender's address, or glances at the handwriting of the scrawl on the card, or looks at the glass rose laid on bubble wrap, he knows who the sender is. There is only one person who can evoke that kind of emotion from Hagu. She doesn't make a sound but it's the most response she's shown in the last six months.

She picks up the glass rose – it is almost colorless, just the slightest shade of pink but it doesn't need anything more than that – and when the light hits it, it is more beautiful, more glittering, more alive than any real rose ever was and ever will be. Her eyes are dry now, filled with something he cannot decipher. Is it the admiration merged with fear that used to be there during their University days? No, it's different. It may be envy, because deep inside she fears that she will never catch up to Morita-senpai now, if she ever believed she could before. It may be anxiety, because she hasn't made much progress, despite rehabilitation, on her art. They might have been as different as yellow and blue – she was quiet and wavering while he was rambunctious and obnoxious) but put together, they became a beautiful green – they were both stars, after all. They weren't made to be another humble artist in the streets; they were meant for the big stage, for the world to have its breath stolen away by their creations.

It may as well be none of those; it may just be life in her eyes. Nothing has captured her attention like this for a long time, but now – Takemoto notices – even her hand has stopped shaking and he wonders if she's stopped breathing too.

And even if he would like to step closer and take a look at that rose with Hagu (Morita-senpai hadn't been lying when he said he was experimenting with glass blowing, after all), his feet won't move. He wants to wipe away the tears that have pooled in her eyes but his hands are frozen. He wants to ask who the package is from even though he knows the answer, but his mouth won't open.

That fragile rose, which he could probably crush with a hand (and then he would be like her too, he wonders for the briefest moment if that would bring them closer, even though deep inside he knows the answer) works better than any fence that could keep him away from her. He would have preferred a real fence, even. At least he could have climbed over that. But he can't climb up into their world, no matter how hard he tries.

A part of him that he thought had been stamped out a long time ago crumbles as her lips press against glass petals.

_Why is it_, he thinks, later, when Hagu is asleep and he is staring down at the fragile artwork that looks back up at him mockingly (he thinks). _Why is it that I've fallen deeper in love with someone who has slipped further away from me?_

Sometime between midnight and dawn, when Hagu stirs in her sleep, he kisses her bandaged hands.

_Because falling out of love with her would hurt more. _

* * *

A/N: I'm not technically doing the 30 kisses challenge anymore, because I couldn't update often enough (yes, even with the 3 _months_ interval that was required between each update...) but recently I rewatched Honey and Clover season 1 and decided I wanted to write a little again. This scene is supposed to take place after season 2, even though the only thing I remember from that is Hagu hurting her hand. This was done before I went to sleep. I didn't even read it over once I finished typing, so if you see errors, please correct me when you see them. 


End file.
